Wiscasset resident George Green had urged for someone to put on a candidates' night for the seven people running for the town's new school committee.

Green, a regular at selectmen's meetings, considers the January 7 election one of the most important in the town's recent history: It will determine who works to get a school department together in the next six months. Wiscasset is out of Regional School Unit 12 on July 1, 2014.

The Wiscasset Budget Committee stepped up. The candidates' night it put on at Wiscasset Middle School on December 19 drew Green and nearly 50 other people.

Budget committee chairman Bob Blagden, the event's moderator, said later he was pretty pleased at the turnout for a candidates' night so close to Christmas.

“I would have liked to have seen a few more, but that's not bad,” he said.

In separate interviews, he and Green both said they thought all seven candidates did well, and that any of them would be good to have on the school committee.

“They're all very well-qualified,” Blagden said. It's too bad only five of them will get to serve, he said.

“I'm amazed that we have that many qualified people that want to run,” Green said. He also praised the job the budget committee did with the event, which opened with candidates' statements followed by several rounds of questions from the audience.

“I was surprised, it was so well-run. I couldn't have been more pleased,” Green said.

Except for the seven hopefuls' varied backgrounds, few differences emerged among them.

None favored closing Wiscasset High School; and they want public input into the committee's work.

For profiles of those on the ballot, see “And the nominees are...”